Lee Jae-myung Gives PT to 90 Entrepreneurs: "Will Support Companies' Digital Transformation and New Industry Creation"

Lee: "Industries such as solar power, energy, and batteries are necessary for developing a world-leading green industry powerhouse"
Lee: "Regulatory rationalization is needed to maintain corporate sustainability and grow into a core country in materials, parts, and equipment"
Regarding Doosan Construction preferential treatment allegations, "It is a matter that makes both companies and citizens happy," he explained

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy reporters Ki-min Lee, Young-won Kim, Myung-hwan Lee] Lee Jae-myung, the presidential candidate of the Democratic Party of Korea, stated on the 14th that if elected president, he would help Korean companies compete globally and swiftly create new industries aligned with the climate crisis and digital transformation.

On the afternoon of the same day, Lee visited the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry and gave a presentation on the 'Five Major New Economy Initiatives' to about 90 businesspeople and executives affiliated with the chamber. He said, "We must create new opportunities within the capitalist market economy system, and through the most efficient corporate policies, our companies must grow with international competitiveness. This will generate national wealth and create jobs for workers."

The 'Five Major New Economy Initiatives' pledged by Lee is an economic leap and transformation program aimed at opening an era of $50,000 per capita GDP and a KOSPI index of 5,000.

He identified the root causes of major issues such as low birth rates and gender conflicts as a "lack of opportunity," emphasizing, "In a fluid and transformative situation, if the government invests, deregulates, innovates talent, invests in fundamental advanced science and technology, and creates a market where competition and efficiency function properly, innovation and creativity can be properly pursued, opening new paths."

Lee stressed, "It is important to build future growth capabilities through a major transformation in the four key areas of science, technology, digital, and energy industries, with the transformation of science and technology at the core." He added, "We must focus investment on future national technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), quantum technology, 5G, carbon resource utilization, and cybersecurity, establish technological sovereignty, and lead global standards."

He continued, "We must participate in the energy transition and, if possible, turn it into a growth engine. Former President Park Chung-hee laid the foundation for industrialization with highways, and former President Kim Dae-jung laid the groundwork for the information and communication technology (ICT) industry with the internet." He added, "To develop into a world-leading green industry powerhouse, we need an energy highway powered by wind and sunlight. Industries such as solar power, energy, and batteries are necessary to become a global leader in green industries."

To counter global protectionism and make manufacturing the new driving force for $50,000 growth, Lee emphasized the need to support supply chain independence and build ladders for small and medium enterprises to grow into mid-sized and large companies. He said, "We must maintain corporate sustainability through regulatory rationalization while growing into a global core country in materials, parts, and equipment (SoBuJang) 3.0. We will create more than 100 world-leading fields."

Especially since research and development (R&D) is directly linked to economic growth, he pledged to transform the current government R&D policy into mission-oriented projects focused on problem-solving and task completion. Lee proposed, "To create 2 million digital jobs, an investment of 135 trillion won is required. We must create opportunities for companies to invest and increase AI and digital transformation jobs by 600,000, Internet of Things (IoT) jobs by about 400,000, and expand the number of unicorn companies employing over 10,000 people to 100."

Regarding the long time taken to establish the SK Hynix cluster during his tenure as governor of Gyeonggi Province, Lee said, "We must quickly eliminate regulations that hinder innovation, competition, and efficiency." He added, "We need to inject new energy through regulatory rationalization. All systems, including outdated regulations and regulatory management costs, need innovation." On the method of regulatory rationalization, he said, "We will change it to a bottom-up approach where markets and companies participate."

He also mentioned regional imbalance and the imbalance between large and small businesses, explaining his previously announced policies on regional balanced development, support for small business owners, and investment. Lee appealed for support, saying, "We need proven skills, abilities, and nationalism. We definitely need a competent economic president who is strong against global crises, verified by performance and evidence."

Lee also actively addressed allegations of preferential treatment in changing the land use of a hospital site owned by Doosan Construction to commercial use. He said, "The Doosan Construction hospital site, which had been abandoned for 30 years due to unprofitability, was a neighborhood nuisance as construction was halted and left unattended for 20 to 30 years." He added, "When we asked to change the land use so companies could come in, we were criticized for giving preferential treatment and couldn't proceed. It was left unattended several times while the market changed."

Lee said, "I asked Seongnam City to take 10% of the land and build a community center." He added, "The region gets jobs, the neighborhood benefits from selling meals, and we get tax revenue. In Jeongja-dong, public facilities were built on expensive land, making everyone happy." He continued, "Only one person is unhappy. Lee Jae-myung." He questioned, "I am being suspected. They are attacking me, asking why I gave benefits."

He explained, "You have to give benefits to companies for them to come in. There is only one way to make companies that don't want to come, come: kidnapping." He added, "Overseas, they reduce corporate taxes, provide land for free, give cash support, and offer employment subsidies."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.